Among the many visitors and pilgrims who admire Michelangelo's Pietà every day in St. Peter's Basilica, in the Vatican, no one pays any attention to the terrible wounds that the famous marble group suffered 50 years ago.Exactly May 21, 1972, a "horrible" date due to the adverse fate that suddenly fell on Michelangelo's masterpiece, one of the most important sculptures in the history of art, made in white Carrara marble from 1497 to 1499 by a very young Michelangelo Buonarroti in his early twenties commissioned by the French cardinal Jean de Bilhères, ambassador of the French king Charles VIII to Pope Alexander VI.That day, the news of the damage to the Pietà by a deranged person immediately went around the world, amid universal bewilderment.There are even those who cry with anger and pain outside and inside the Vatican, even in the circles closest to the Pope of the time, Paul VI, we read in the confidential reports of the pontifical authorities immediately after the incident.In seeing the Madonna disfigured, no one can swear that within a few months the sculpture would have returned to its original Michelangelo forms.Not so think at the top of the Curia.Despite the initial shock, the papal restorative machine, pushed by Paul VI, immediately launched an intervention plan, never carried out before, with the aim of healing the "wounds" of the Pietà by the young Michelangelo.On May 21, 1972, a deranged man hammered the masterpiece in St. Peter's Basilica.Thanks to a team of experts, the work has returned to its former glory.Here are the images of an artistic "miracle"The attack takes place in a few moments, around 11.30, when the geologist, emerging from a group of pilgrims who stop in front of the sculpture, climbs over the barriers in the chapel where the Pietà is located to the right of the entrance to the basilica, pulls out of a pocket of the overcoat a hammer - with the head still colored with blue paint having never been used before - climbs on the pedestal of the statue and begins to strike it amid the shouts of the people.The blows are violent and the damage is enormous, especially on her Madonna, scarred with a shattered nose, her left arm truncated, the lid of her left eye torn and stained by the blue paint of the hammer, parts of the drapery of the chipped dress.The worst is averted by the prompt intervention of a security guard, Marco Ottaggio, who, helped by other people, blocks the geologist by pulling him off the pedestal, while shouting raving phrases (“I am Jesus risen from the dead!”, “Away with this body! ... ”) with the clear intention of also wanting to strike the parts of Christ lying on the knees of the Mother.But luckily he can't.With difficulty Laszlo Toth is saved by the police from the wrath of those who want to lynch him.He will then be handed over to the authorities and sentenced to be interned in a psychiatric hospital for two years.After that, he will be extradited to Australia.Among the first to run is Paul VI, who ran down from the Apostolic Palace from where at noon he was to hold the Angelus prayer dedicated to the feast of Pentecost, one of the most important liturgical events in Christianity.Montini, accompanied by the secretary, Monsignor Pasquale Macchi, is troubled, shaken.He inquires about what has happened and the extent of the damage, speaks little, but listens a lot.For a few minutes he gathers in silent prayer.An all-Vatican team of first-rate restorers immediately enters into action, ready with enthusiasm, legitimate fears, to challenge the impossible, that is, to give back to the mutilated Pietà the same forms sculpted by the Florentine master, whose signature appears exceptionally on the band over the shoulder of the Virgin's dress, “MICHAEL.A (N) GELVS BONAROTVS FLORENT (INUS) FACIEBAT” (“The Florentine Michelangelo Buonarroti did it”).In no other sculpture will Michelangelo put his signature.He does it at night, in secret, after having heard that some monsignors in front of the sculpture said that the author was a Lombard sculptor;indelible signature that Lazslo Toth's blows do not scratch.Among the restorers called to heal the Vatican Pietà, the only survivor is Dr. Nazzareno Gabrielli, then inspector of the Research Department, of which he will be director in the future.At the strong request of Paul VI, he recalls, "a group of extraordinary professionals was put to work who, using their respective skills, in about 7 months of work managed to heal the wounds of the work".Gabrielli still talks about it today with understandable emotion.De Campos - one of the greatest historians of Michelangelo's art - immediately commissioned Vittorio Federici, director of the Scientific Research Cabinet, to carry out the restoration, and was put in charge of an exceptional technical staff: Ulderico Grispigni, head of the Stone Restoration Laboratory;Giuseppe Morresi Head of the Plastics Laboratory;Franco Dati, eclectic restorer and technician of the Research Department, who “carry out laboratory experiments from May to August.In September they intervene on the damaged parts of the Pietà and in 3 months of work they heal all the damage suffered by the blows inflicted by the madman."The parts torn off by the hammer blows - says Gabrielli - were recovered thanks to an intuition that proved successful, the creation of casts of the damaged parts on the plaster model of the same Pietà made by Francesco Mercadali in 1944 and since then kept in the Vatican". to which, "the reconstructed parts, all belonging to the figure of the Virgin, are the same shapes sculpted by Michelangelo, even if the material, made with amalgamated powder of white Carrara marble, treated with chromatic elements to make it similar to the original, is different ".But also the “ferment” that exploded around the restorers during the months of work: “At that time I was a young restorer hired in the Vatican for just 5 years.I perfectly remember the atmosphere of dismay that reigned in the Vatican Museums, but at the same time - explains De Luca - that dismay turned into "professional" curiosity in closely following the solutions and technical developments put in place by colleagues from the Laboratories.There was a lot of support for them especially because we knew that the success of that restoration would also benefit all of us not directly involved.And indeed it was, because from that moment the restoration laboratories of the Vatican Museums began their virtuous path to be included in the ranks of excellence in the sector.From that shock we fully became aware of how, in addition to the restoration, the ordinary and extraordinary maintenance of the Vatican works, we would also have to play the new role of 'Emergency Response' teams, as indeed happened many years later, in 1993, due to the 'explosive attack of mafia origin on the Loggia delle Benedizioni of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, which in fact did not find us unprepared ", recalls De Luca, who will be among those responsible for the restoration of the Sistine Chapel, following in particular the cycle of 15th century painters and of the Pauline Chapel.In just over 7 months of work, the Pietà was reopened to the public, again in the same chapel as the Vatican basilica, but super protected by an unbreakable mega crystal.It was December 21, 1972. It was Paul VI who unveiled it to the world, expressing, among other things, in front of the same sculpture his "profound satisfaction with all the people, master restorers, technicians, helpers, who carried out the restoration".So does Cesare Brandi who, in his capacity as director of the ICR, the Central Institute of Restoration, formulates a “very flattering judgment on all the interventions carried out by the master restorers of the Vatican Museums on Michelangelo's marble group”.Not surprisingly, even 50 years after the attack, visitors who stop in front of the Pietà admire its usual beauty thanks to a one-of-a-kind restorative work, rightly gone down in history, leaving no traces visible to the naked eye.